The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for forming at least one silicon-carbon bond in a silane.
Methyl chlorosilanes are typical starting materials used commercially in the manufacture of silicone polymers. Methyl chlorosilanes, comprising a silicon-carbon bond, are formed in a reaction between methyl chloride and elemental silicon, first disclosed by Rochow in 1945 in U.S. Pat. No. 2,380,995. However, the Rochow reaction relies on a costly energy consuming reduction of silicon dioxide to elemental silicon. Thus, there is a need for a method and apparatus for forming silicon-carbon bonds that avoids using the costly energy consuming reduction of silicon dioxide to elemental silicon.
The present invention provides a method for forming at least one product silane, comprising reacting a transition metal hydride with a starting silane in a presence of a catalyst and at a temperature that exceeds a threshold temperature associated with said reacting, wherein the starting silane has a chemical form of TnSi(OR)(4xe2x88x92n), wherein the at least one product silane includes at least one silicon-carbon bond that is not present in the starting silane, wherein each T is independently a hydrogen atom or a monovalent hydrocarbon group, wherein each R independently includes a monovalent hydrocarbon group, and wherein n is an integer in a range between 0 and about 3.
In addition, the present invention provides a product silane having the chemical form of (Rm)(Tn)Si(OR)(4xe2x88x92mxe2x88x92n), wherein each T independently includes a monovalent hydrocarbon group, wherein each R independently includes a hydrocarbon group, and wherein n is an integer in a range between 0 and about 3, wherein m is an integer in a range between about 1 and about 4xe2x88x92n, wherein the product silane is formed by the process of endothermically reacting a transition metal hydride with a starting silane in a presence of a catalyst and at a temperature that exceeds a threshold temperature associated with said reacting, and wherein the starting silane has a chemical form of (Rmxe2x88x921)(Tn)Si(OR)(5xe2x88x92mxe2x88x92n).